


Ignorance is Bliss (Gangster AU by theslowesthnery)

by miofilito



Series: the Gangster AU series (based on theslowesthnery's AU on Tumblr) [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Love, Bruises, Depressing, Depression, Exhaustion, Gen, Guilt, Insomnia, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Past physical abuse, Self-Hatred, Self-Worth Issues, Sensitive bones, Shame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:11:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6974968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miofilito/pseuds/miofilito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Papyrus decided to join the gang, he has felt so much guilt and worry over his brother and the frequent abuse he has to endure for the gangs sake, him being a diversion bait and all for the cops at the police station.<br/>it seems like the taller skeleton has all the reason to worry now with the upcoming events that soon will follow… but is there anything the great Papyrus can do to help…?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello again!  
> so here's the first chapter of the sequel to "Aftermath (Gangster AU by theslowesthnery)"  
> i have no idea when the next chapter will be done, probably sometime next week or so, but i can't promise anything!  
> and also, i had a really hard time writing Papyrus cause i have no idea how to write such an optimistic character when i'm basically the opposite, so i'm sorry if Papyrus appears to act a little OOC, same goes for literally every other character i write honestly.  
> see ya in the next update~!

This day had been like any other usual day for the tall skeleton’s slightly scheduled life.

When Papyrus and the rest of his friends weren’t in need of managing their more ‘illegal’ business within the gang, some of the monsters still had their own respective and - definitely more civil – jobs to attend to in their daily lives in order to pay and keep a comfortable living. For the tall (and undoubtedly handsome) skeleton, it was the estate of his spaghetti restaurant that he had purchased a couple of years ago, where he blissfully worked as an esteemed cook and waitress, usually either one or the other depending on the rushing hours of guests that sometimes flooded in during lunch time.

This day had been one of those usual days were he did exactly those highly enjoyable duties, serving his usually merry guests with his culinary cooking – with admittedly some help from a certain talented fire elemental – and gaining some time over to call and greet his friend Undyne for some casual friendly talk. When Alphys had answered the phone instead however, she had told him that the fish monster wasn’t home at the moment and had to attend to some kind of important business that the small yellow lizard didn’t know the details of.

But during their phone line conversation about Undyne’s whereabouts, Papyrus couldn’t help but notice how Alphys seemed to be acting peculiarly sheepish and nervous about the topic, as she was stuttering her way through explanations with a slightly high-pithed voice, an old habit that never seemed to pass no matter the timeless efforts. That was somewhat odd to the tall skeleton, even with the knowledge that the lizard monster tended to be pretty high-strung when it came to socialization and just general small talk. he had never experienced Alphys being anxious about talking about the love of her life, as it was no secret that she should’ve been ashamed of, especially not with the fact that everybody had instantly accepted their intimate relationship a long time ago without any judgment towards her or her lover.

He idly wondered why the little monster was acting like… she was hiding something from him? About Undyne? Was Undyne doing something that she didn’t want Papyrus to know about? But then, why would she be hiding whatever she was doing from the great Papyrus of all people? Was she perhaps doing some kind of private gangster business with the leader of the group? Well, that would explain why Alphys seemed to be so anxious just talking to him, as the fish monster had probably asked her to keep whatever job Undyne was executing, a secret from the skeleton.

It wouldn’t surprise Papyrus at all if that was the case. Everyone in the gang was prone to keep secrets from him now and then as a means of protecting him from harm’s way. While he did appreciate the welfare that the others wanted to provide him, it didn’t fit well with him at all to always be treated like a delicate and pure flower in need of constant protection.

Because he knew, deep down in his soul filled with integrity and imperishable hope, that he was fully capable of handling any kind of hardships thrown into both his own and his friend’s paths. No matter how severe or hopeless a certain situation could be, the great Papyrus knew that there was always a way to change their fate for the better as long as they stayed determined and hopeful, no matter how cruel the acts of their reality was.

That’s why he even decided to join the gang’s business in the first place, to put his determination into a good cause, into what he believed in and fight for whatever compassion he had for this world, a wish of genuine solicitude to make their home a better place for everyone and anyone to live in, both monsters and humans alike, no matter the struggles or circumstances they had to meet.

But it was kind of troubling for the unhesitating skeleton to seek that kind of goal when the people around him was precluding him the efforts to do so, even if he knew that they were doing it out of precaution for his well-being.

They just didn’t want him to worry or get discouraged about his view of the world and the moralities that followed with being who he was...

There was especially one person who he cherished dearly that was desperate for the great Papyrus’ blissful obliviousness, someone who was far, far away from sharing the same kind of mindset that he had of the world and its endless possibilities.

His older brother, Sans…

The quite ironically smaller of the two, pretty lazy in nature, has a horrible taste for puns and sometimes acts as stubborn as a mule.

But nonetheless, a truly great brother, even with the few but slightly annoying flaws that he possessed.

Sans was the one who protected the taller skeleton the most compared to the others attempts in deceiving him from the harsh reality, especially with the kind of bond that they shared, the kind of unconditional brotherly love that only the two of them shared and understood apart from their closest friends.

The smaller skeleton was the one who always was definite in keeping Papyrus so light-hearted and carefree, to keep all the knowledge about Sans’ true feelings locked away and buried as far away from the taller skeleton as possible in hopes of keeping that desired happiness plastered on the taller one’s face permanently. To protect and nurture that hopeful beam of joy without risking of tarnishing it with the older one’s inconvenient truth.

Papyrus knew Sans was hiding things from him.

His true feelings, his problems, undoubtedly everything that was the opposite of joy or self-fulfillment.

He was always stubbornly persisting and denying the concern and worry from the little brother, telling him endless lies and diverting jokes and pulling quirks to hide his own well-being, straining that perpetually fake smile on his face to hide the unresolvable enigma that was his older brother, hiding behind the act of a ‘punny’ jokester, a lazybones, a small and carefree skeleton who hid behind infinite lies and secrets and never-ending jokes…

Self-depreciating jokes, those few times when he perhaps felt more miserable than usual and didn’t think twice before the depressive implication was out for the audience to hear.

Miserable…

It was such a disheartening thought, to be able to associate your own brother with that kind of upsetting word.

Papyrus had cogitated these reflections deep inside his skull as he left the establishment for the day, driving his second-hand convertible home to the skeleton brothers’ apartment. he was climbing up the stairs inside the apartment building as he kept pondering over the smaller skeleton, anticipating for said monster to be home and lazing around as usual.

Or, so he hoped at least…

While Papyrus didn’t know the extent of Sans’ problems, he did know one certain issue that frequently plagued the older brother’s life. A predicament that quite often was so unpredictable and unsettling, that it sometimes would cause the younger one to stay on edge in unendurable anxiety those common nights when Sans couldn’t come home from that solitary confinement.

The police station. The property of the human police force. Those misguided people conducted by their shared fear and incertitude for the monster race as a whole, driven to act with iniquity and jurisprudence in their humane beliefs to uphold authority over the minority of monsters that was left, residual in shattered hopes and dreams for equality between the races.

Sans was one of those monsters who was trapped in that endless loop of distress in the humans’ claws of unfair justice and oppression.

Because Sans was the one with the duty of acting as a diversion for the cops whenever the gang performed any illegal affairs in the meantime. The one who would disappear for an unforeseeable amount of time without any trace left behind to then later be undoubtedly found in an alleyway, lying down on the filthy ground in a disheveled mess of slightly ripped clothing and bones covered with bruises and spider web-like cracks in god knows how many places. 

But Sans always pretended to not pay those wounds any mind at all, always reassuring his little brother of his very good well-being, that he was alright, he was okay, his little bundle of joy and feigning ignorance had nothing to worry about, nothing at all.

He was always making up excuses to how he ended up in such a mangled state in the first place.

 

“I fell asleep in the middle of the road and got ran over by a car.”

 

“I walked into a wall five times in a row without realizing it.”

 

“I was sleep-walking and had no idea where I was or what I was doing.”

 

Etcetera, etcetera…

 

An infinite repeating of excuses and lies.

 

And Sans always reassured Papyrus that he didn’t have a problem with going through those terms that entailed in this simple task within the gang. Always accepting his duty without any doubts or resistance whatsoever.

“no problem at all.” The smaller skeleton would say in his so over-the-top casual and laidback manner, playfully blinking his left eye socket and straining that counterfeiting goofy smile as to emphasize his lamentable lies, an artificiality that radiated confidence, contentment and welfare that was every possible impression opposite of his true feelings and emotions.

But in the end, Papyrus pretends to buy it. Pretends to truly believe in those ridiculous tales of misfortune, feeling how the very core of his being breaks just a miniscule at the briefly – but oh, so painfully noticeable – relief skimming past Sans’ facial features. Because if he doesn’t play oblivious, the older will always take the blame upon himself for worrying his little brother, ending up working twice as hard in order to preserve what little joy and faith the younger still have.

Sans doesn’t want Papyrus to worry about him, purely out of love and solicitude for the younger to keep him safe and happy. So he plays the act of a jokester.

 

Cracks jokes.

 

Acts carefree.

 

And smiles all around.

 

Papyrus worries, a lot. But in order to keep Sans from blaming himself for the younger’s worries, purely out of adoration and care for the older, he puts on the act of a fool.

 

Oblivious.

 

Naïve.

 

Unbeknown of the smaller skeleton’s suffering.

 

Because that’s seems to be the only purpose he’s supposed to serve in other people’s moments of ostracized misery. 

 

To act upon an impersonation of childish innocence and naïveté…

 

Papyrus finally reaches the door on the third floor to their small apartment, fumbling his right hand into his jacket pocket for the keys. He unlocks the entrance to his home sweet home, entering slightly hesitantly as he presses his hearing senses to confirm whether Sans was home or not.

He really, really hoped that he was. He definitely didn’t want this night to end up being one of those nights he had to encounter on his own again…

“Sans, I’m home!” the tall skeleton called out through their miniscule hallway.

But as Papyrus bent down to untie his shoes and hopefully awaiting an answer, he saw the familiar pair of shoes scattered on the floor, this time however – to his distaste - they had small scratches on them. For goodness sake Sans, those are Dockers! He had to be more careful with those, that particular brand was an expensive one after all!

“Oh, hey bro. welcome home.”

Following that familiarly comfort and relief of the older one’s existence, the younger heard the usual shuffling of pink and fluffy slippers coming from the living room. Papyrus untied his shoes, neatly stacking them on the doormat together with his brother’s slightly scratched ones and turned around to meet said brother, now casually leaning on the doorframe between the living room and hallway.

But something was different with him, Papyrus noticed.

Papyrus didn’t recall the older having small patches on his skull when he first woke him up this morning.

Said skeleton was also wearing a freshly new shirt instead of the one he had been wearing this morning. Sans didn’t have a lot of spare clothing and he only ever wore anything else other than his normal white shirt when he absolutely had to, usually through the recurrent nagging about his hygiene.

Or those times when his original shirt got torn by some mysterious force that Sans would deflect with another one of his lies or jokes…

Sans watched his younger brother with an easy-going grin and tired eyes as the taller pulled of his jacket and vest and draped it over his left arm, looking surprisingly happy and relieved to see the lazybones.

“Howz’it going? Had a good day at the restaurant?” he asked with genuine interest, looking even more exhausted than usual with how his posture seemed slightly languorous and indolent just from the effort of standing up. He was holding a book about quantum physics under his right arm, a birthday gift given by the great Papyrus a couple of years ago.

“It was great, as always!” Papyrus beamed, hiding the concern over his brother’s exterior behind a cheerful smile. “There were a lot of customers today who were absolutely marveled by the new addition to the menu Grillby and I developed!” the taller skeleton elaborated, reminiscing in the vast variety of monsters indulging themselves over his and the fire elemental’s culinary art’s from earlier that day.

He idly wondered at that moment how happy it would’ve made him if Sans had been there to see it for himself, praising him over the great accomplishment and compliment him through spaghetti-related puns, like he always did.

But the smaller skeleton hadn’t been there today. In fact, Papyrus had no idea where Sans have been, as he hadn’t seen him since this morning until now.

But one small glance at the older however was enough for the younger to suspect exactly where he had been all day long, while Papyrus had blissfully minded his own business at the establishment…

“Huh, that’s great. wouldn’t put that ‘pasta’ you and the hot stuff.” Sans replied mischievously, the lazy grin on his face widening slightly at the unoriginal pun. Seriously, how many times have he used that pun by now?! Papyrus probably shouldn’t even ask that to himself, only causing him to bring up past memories of repetitive puns plaguing his life over and over.

“UUUGGHHH, Sans! No spaghetti-related puns when I’m having a speech about my admirable accomplishments!” The proclaimed chef exclaimed in his commonly loud and enthusiastic voice and stomped his way towards their shared bedroom to change into more comfortable clothing suitable for the evening, closing the door with an authoritative bang.

Sans, knowing that the younger skeleton’s act was one out of amused and caring teasing, chuckled heartedly as he resumed to the living room couch to continue his reading.

It didn’t take long for Papyrus to change into his favorite comfy clothes and head for the kitchen to make some dinner, opting for cooking vegetable spaghetti with tomato sauce for them both.

“So, how has your day been?” the tall skeleton called from the kitchen, knowing full well about how the smaller skeleton’s day really could’ve been during the day, but decided to play his act of unawareness like he always did. 

“It’s been alright.” Sans answered casually from the living room, only the sound of bones against worn-out paper being flipped emitting from his position. “Played the trombone for a while on the streets downtown and actually earned a generous amount of cash this time around. Probably because Jerry was down there too when I came over and drowned out his obnoxious whining with my tunes. That was pretty funny, actually. The relieved looks on everyone’s faces was priceless.”

A small chuckle followed. But Papyrus recognized that kind of strained chuckle from far too many times before to know that it was a false one, a simulation to emphasize - what he was pretty certain was - a lie.

“Well brother, while I do not encourage the act of attenuating another monster’s speech, no matter how infuriating that speech may be, I do on the other hand support your productiveness!” Papyrus answered from his position in front of the stove, heating up a large pot of water for the noodles to cook in. “I am very happy to hear of your accomplishment economy-wise!”

As the water slowly heated up on the stove, the great skeleton dropped a considerable amount of noodles into the pot and turned to the kitchen counter to chop the vegetables and prepare the tomato sauce.

A hum of acknowledgement replied with the slight rustling of paper as Sans continued his reading in the living room, staying attentive of the younger brother talking to him.

“aw, thanks bro. Besides, to not use the opportunity to get that little meanie to hush down a notch was an ‘im-pasta-bility’ in itself.” Sans snickered. “Not to be rude or anything, but I guess you could say that I didn’t really have the stomach for his bad breath either.”

“UUUUUGGGGHHHHH, SANS NO!!!” Papyrus screeched from the kitchen, earning a small but genuine snicker from the laid-back skeleton in the living room.

“Sans, yes.” He replied jokingly, relishing in the following shout of frustration and at the sound of boiling water being thrown into the sink with the subsequent “splat!” of noodles accompanying it.

After half an hour of idle small talk from one room to another and clattering symphonies of pots, pans and knives being used for their purposes, Papyrus finally placed the finished spaghetti and vegetable sauce on the kitchen counter for the skeletons to serve themselves with. He searched the kitchen cabinets and drawers for the plates and utensils as he called for the older brother;

“Sans, dinner is ready!”

“Sweet.” Said skeleton answered from his spot on the couch, the sound of slippers tapping against the wooden floor as he rose from his position and shuffled with heavy steps towards the kitchen.

As the smaller skeleton entered and went to pick up a plate for himself on the counter, Papyrus - to his puzzlement - instantaneously took notice of how Sans seemed to be… tottering?... as he languorously walked and reached for the pasta ladle (with his right hand? Isn’t Sans supposed to be left-handed? He always uses his left hand when grabbing the ladle…) to scoop up his portion. From the way he seemed to be trailing his legs and left arm in a cautious manner however, Papyrus was suspecting that the cause for Sans’ unusual exhaustion wasn’t that of his physical stamina.

But more because of the uncomfortable apprehension slapping the taller skeleton in the face, that Sans seemed to be suffering from an injury that he hadn’t told Papyrus about.

Without taking caution of his visible uneasiness into consideration as he watched the older brother’s measured movements, Sans briefly took notice of the younger staring at him with a slight unease in his eye sockets. The lazybones locked his gaze with the other in confusion and opened his mouth to presumably ask if something was wrong, until he seemed to realize the observant question hanging in the air between them and glanced away from the younger to serve himself some of the tomato/vegetable sauce.

“Heh, don’t worry bro. I just ended up falling on my rump by accident on my way back home.” Sans answered the unspoken question, flashing a reassuring grin on his face towards the younger before resuming to his servings. “got a little bruise from that, but nothing serious that I couldn’t patch up on my own.” He added nonchalantly as he dropped the ladle in the sauce pan and shambled past his little brother towards their kitchen table, slowly seating himself in a slow and cautious manner and huffed slightly as he made contact with the chair.

Papyrus tried his best at hiding his concern behind the usual mask of discontentment for the older brother’s eudemonia as he mentally prepared for another lectured speech about attentiveness for your surroundings. He served himself a portion of the spaghetti and sauce to then join his brother, taking the seat opposite of him on the table.

He didn’t bother to ask Sans about his left arm. The older would just come up with a lie for that one too…

“How does one even trip by accident with quality Dockers like yours? Is that why there are scratches on them?! My god brother, how many times have I told you to be careful with those?!” Papyrus scolded the other as he lifted a fork of spaghetti in front of himself, mindlessly swaying it around between his phalanges and accidentally spilling his sauce onto the table. “You know we can’t afford another pair unless I have to force you to get a decently paid job for once!” He continued, then an idea popped up in his head that put a genuine enthusiastic smile on the taller skeleton’s face. “Maybe you could get a job at that ice cream parlor that we usually visit?! That sounds like good work with decent payment, don’t you think?”

Sans watched his little brother as he gave his lecturing speech, the lazy grin on his face twitching a bit before he gave a shrug at the suggestion.

“Heh, doesn’t sound too bad of a job actually. At least if I get to stand by the ice cream counter and make ice cream-related jokes to the customers all day.” Sans answered casually, not seeming all that interested in the idea. 

Papyrus heaved a slightly annoyed but flippant sigh at that and glanced the suggestion off, being pretty certain that Sans wouldn’t even consider taking such a job at all in the first place. It probably wouldn’t be that easy for him to keep a work schedule in routine anyway, not with how he spontaneously would end up at the police station from time to time and get troublesome injuries to accompany his working hours.

After dinner, the rest of the evening passed by as the skeleton brothers either worked on household chores or indulged themselves in their hobbies like listening to soap operas on the radio or read science fiction books. Evening turned into early night as Papyrus changed into his nightwear, brushed his teeth and prepared his set of clothing for the upcoming day of restaurant work. He was just about to head for the bunker bead in their bedroom when he saw Sans sitting on the couch still fully clothed in his normal wear and reading his quantum physics book.

This was nothing new. however, it was still concerning in its own way considering the circumstances.

Papyrus wasn’t sure when this routine had started. It had just slowly built itself up over time during the following months and has now become a usual part of the brothers’ lifestyle, though it was far from a healthy one.

Sans had a really hard time sleeping at night nowadays and Papyrus was certain that the older brother’s condition was just getting worse and worse because of that.

He didn’t know why this had happened at such a sudden pace. He had tried to talk about it with the older brother, asking him if he was having nightmares that kept him up at night or if there was something else bothering him to the point of sleep deprivation. But every time the younger brought this subject up, Sans would pull the same bothersome act like he always did when he wanted to appease Papyrus’ worries; some puns and jokes to put him on the edge of frustration, to then pull some not-so-very-convincing reassurances about his ‘obviously good’ well-being and then call it a day.

Papyrus was worried, to say the least. But he didn’t know what to do to help when his older brother kept being so stubborn about his health, both physically and mentally…

“Are you not coming to bed with me?” the taller asked tentatively, already knowing the obviously presumed answer to that question, but he wanted to hear the answer again from Sans himself just to be sure.

Maybe his brother would come to bed with him this time around? He could always hope at least…

Sans looked up from his book and locked his gaze on his younger brother, fully prepared for a night of sleep, and gave him a sympathetic look with a small tentative smile.

“Heh, sorry Paps, not all that tired right now. You won’t be ‘bonely’ for long though, I won’t stay up too late tonight, but you go right ahead to sleep alright? Got a long day of work to- ‘marrow’. You’ll need a skele-’ton’ of rest.”

Sans let out a snicker at his own puns and at the reaction he got from Papyrus once again, who rolled his eye sockets with an annoyed whine and turned around to stomp off into their bedroom.

The taller skeleton entered the bedroom doorway. But before closing the door between the two after himself completely, he turned his head to meet caring eye sockets with the lazybones, giving him an empathetic smile. 

“Goodnight Sans.” Papyrus said with a soft voice filled with warm fondness before he slowly closed the last few inches between their held line of vision, until all that was left was a brown door in his gaze and a feeling of slight culpability hanging over him in the darkness of their bedroom.

Wasn’t there anything that the great Papyrus could do to help? He was so worried about Sans’ condition, both from the frequent abuse at the police station and the oft-recurring sleep deprivation he suffered night and day. It hurt so badly in his chest having to constantly hide the concern over his brother behind a mask of cheerfulness and oblivion, even if it was for the sake of the older brother’s solace.

He couldn’t just stand by and let this go on anymore. What if Sans just suddenly fainted on the streets one day and didn’t get help in time? What if he fell down?! What if he really would someday end up falling asleep in the middle of the road and get run over?! What if-?!

 

......

 

What if… the cops would risk going too far with their abuse towards Sans… and he would…

 

No, Papyrus couldn’t risk that happening! Not anymore…

 

He had to do something… he had to save Sans from encountering such horrid fates…

 

But what? What could he do to help without making Sans feel guilty for accepting it?

 

The taller skeleton pondered over the course of actions he could pull to ensure Sans’ salubrity, as he climbed up to the top bunker of the brothers’ bunk-bed and snuggled into his blanket comfortably.

First things first, he should start of slow and easy out of precaution for Sans’ predisposition about accepting help from his loved ones. In this case, that would be finding a way to cure his brother from his insomnia, which was far from an easy feat when Papyrus himself didn’t have any idea what was causing it…

Wait. Alphys! That’s it, maybe she could help? She was a doctor after all, maybe she knew of a cure that could help against Sans’ sleep deprivation?!

Papyrus relaxed a little easier against the soft mattress he laid on, as he made the decision to call Alphys for assistance in curing Sans from his mental problems the next day. He had to start somewhere in this newfound and important mission of his, and Papyrus was determined to help and support Sans in any way he could, no matter how persistent Sans would get against his aide!

With that ever-increasing resolution at the front of his skull, the tall skeleton finally let the darkness embrace him as he closed his eye sockets and dozed off into a comfortable slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the second chapter is finally done!  
> however, since this fanfic became A LOT longer than i had anticipated, there will be a third chapter coming up sometime in the future  
> (i have no idea when it will be finished though...!)  
> and thank you all so, SO much for all the comments and kudos~! it really helps to keep me motivated in writing all this for you guys! *showers you in hugs and kisses~*  
> enjoy the Papyrus angst for now!  
> (i hope i didn't write him too OOC though...!)

Papyrus woke up the next morning to the ringing sound of his alarm clock placed by the far end of the top bunk bed, repeating its annoying call for him to rise and shine for the upcoming day.

Being the lively early bird that he was, he briskly rose from the mattress to a sitting position and turned the alarm off, not wanting to disturb the sleeping skeleton below him more than what was necessary. Even though the taller skeleton would have much preferred to achieve his hopes of turning Sans’ inconvenient sleeping habits into more preferable waking hours, the taller skeleton wanted to make sure that the shorter of the two got to sleep in a little longer with regards of the adamant nightmares keeping him from actually receiving some well-needed rest at night.

Speaking of which, Papyrus doesn’t remember hearing or seeing Sans actually coming back to their bedroom to sleep last night. Perhaps he had accidently slept in at the couch instead?

He swiftly climbed down from the top bunk and looked down on the lower bunk bed to discover that Sans actually was lying there on his messily wrinkled sheets covering the mattress, his curled up and blanket-covered back towards the taller skeleton in a presumably counterfeiting act of deep slumber.

Papyrus was pretty certain he was faking it. The typical signs of Sans’ sleeping state weren’t there. The lack of deep and relaxed heaving from his ribcage in slowly repeating motions, the non-existent snoring hum that would reverberate through his nasal cavity, was all the proof the younger brother needed to confirm this fact. He wouldn’t acknowledge that to the older at the moment though. That would only lead to unnecessary consequences for now, and the great Papyrus had an esteemed spaghetti restaurant to attend to. And a more so significant phone call to make during his lunch break today.

So the tall skeleton proceeded with his usual morning routine by changing into the clothes he had prepared last night for the upcoming day, walked out of their bedroom and closed the bedroom door, this time without the regular precaution of closing it gently. He knew Sans was awake anyway, so Papyrus thought there wasn’t really any reason for him to feed the act further with his usual prudence.

He continued down the narrow hallway into the kitchen, getting ready to cook himself and his brother a wholesome breakfast - consisting of scrambled eggs, toast and two glasses of milk to keep their bones strong and healthy - as he put on his apron with the sentence “cool dude” imprinted with a stylish font on its chest. A fashionable addition to the once dull apron made by the great Papyrus himself.

As the taller skeleton gathered all the ingredients and cooking utensils needed for the morning dish, he suddenly heard the distant but familiar sound of their bedroom door opening and then closing. He momentarily listened to the following noise of skeleton feet scraping lazily against wooden floor, ebbing further away from the kitchen as the seemingly tired being causing said noises slowly walked towards the other end of the hallway, presumably reaching for the skeletons bathroom. Then came the sound of a door opening again, closing, and instantly followed by a distant ‘click’ from the bathroom door being locked.

Silence.

Guess this day would be turning out being one of those ‘endless napping days’ again. It certainly wouldn’t help Sans sleep any better the following night to come, so Papyrus would have to be prepared to find the lazy heap of bones sleeping in bizarre places and wake him up once in a while today.

 

That is, if Papyrus would actually get to see the lazybones at all today while he was at work…

 

……

 

What if Sans got in trouble with the cops again and wouldn’t be able to come home tonight…?

 

What if Sans ended up even more severely injured than ever before…?!

 

What if he got dumped in some random alleyway unconscious again with such serious injuries and Papyrus couldn’t find him…?!

 

What if-?!

 

……

 

No, he couldn’t keep thinking like that! He had to stay positive, stay determined, not give up hope! Papyrus had to stay strong for the sake of his brother’s safety and well-being, not let his anxiety-filled predictions and insecurities get the better of him!

The tall skeleton inhaled a deep breath to calm his non-existent nerves down, exhaling it as calmly and slowly as he could while thinking of things that made him happy in life, like cooking his exquisite spaghetti or getting sincerely warm hugs from his closest friends and older brother.

After a moment of self-inflicting reassurance, He proceeded with the preparations of heating up the pan on the stove to fry the eggs and the additional ingredients needed for the recipe. However, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to the predicaments that his brother could potentially suffer from once again without the younger ones’ awareness of it.

But what could the great Papyrus do to assure Sans’ safety if he was going to work at the spaghetti restaurant all day? The only time he would have over to call his brother would be during his lunch break, but he already had another really important call to make-

 

*Crack!!!*

 

“NYEH!?”

 

Papyrus yelped at the loud and sudden noise echoing throughout the apartment, taken by such a surprise that it felt like his very soul would burst out of his chest from the shock. 

An all too familiar dread and fear washed over him in an intense wave of panic when he realized were the noise had come from.

 

He recognized that sound…

 

God, he recognized that sound all too well.

 

“SANS?!”

 

Terror shot through the very core of his being as the frightened skeleton ran out of the kitchen and rocketed through the hallway towards the bathroom door were the harrowing noise had resounded from.  
But as he rapidly grabbed the door handle and pushed it downwards, he realized to his rattling dismay that it wouldn’t open, no matter how much force he put into it.

Darn it! Sans had locked it from the inside! 

But he had to get in somehow! What if Sans had fallen down?! Or worse-?!

He didn’t have time to think about the course of action he took next.

In his desperation to get through the locked door to help his brother in need, Papyrus swiftly manifested big, sharp-edged bones of all different sizes in the air around him and swung them with the speed of lightning itself towards the door. The army of conjured bones pierced the door with such tremendous force, that it easily got thrown off its hinges and fell to the floor with a loud bang of crushed and crumbled wood and bones reverberating throughout the apartment.

He burst into the bathroom without any second thoughts about the now dismantled door as the frantic skeleton quickly gazed over the small space of the room, to then find what he had both anticipated and dreaded throughout this horrible predicament.

“Sans…?!”

 

Sans was lying face down on the floor – motionless – with only the shirt he had worn last night covering his bare bones.

 

He didn’t respond to Papyrus’ call.

 

Papyrus hurriedly bent down to the small bony heap on the floor, reaching out and cupping his hands around the smaller skeleton’s face to see if he was awake or not.

 

He wasn’t. His eye sockets were closed completely, dark shadows looming over them from exhaustion and the lack of sleep. A small crack ran from the top of his forehead down to his right socket, presumably having knocked the smaller skeleton out upon contact with the floor. He was still breathing - his breaths small and almost unnoticeable - but calm and steady. Thankfully…

What in stars’ name happened?! Why did Sans fall to the floor and hit his head like this? Did he trip? Did he faint? Was he injured somewhere else?!

All kinds of panicked assumptions spun inside his skull as he desperately tried to figure out what to do next, but Papyrus vehemently forced them out of his mind before they could grab a hold of his senses. No, he couldn’t let his anxiety take over. He had to take his priorities one at a time, and right now, his foremost precedence was to help Sans in his state of unconsciousness.

Firstly, he had to bring Sans back to his bed. He couldn’t just keep laying on the floor like this.

The younger skeleton carefully scooped up the elder’s small and limp body in a bridal style embrace, his gaze held over the smaller skeleton’s face in the hopes of maybe rousing him awake from the movement. But there were no signs of shifting whatsoever other than the barely noticeable rise of the elder’s slowly breathing chest. His facial expression displayed an eerie kind of calmness, his face completely derived of any emotion, his usual smile all slack in a downward line and eye sockets drooping down heavily as if he was completely devoid of life. Sans almost seemed to be dead to the world around him if it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t turned to dust… yet.

A dreadful shiver shot through Papyrus’ spine at the thought, but he swiftly shakes it off, resolute in keeping his own distress at bay. Don’t think like that! He needed to stay strong for his older brother sake! He had to stay determined!

Papyrus quickly left the bathroom with the smaller skeleton in his embrace, clambering cautiously over the mangled mess that was left of the door, scurrying through the hallway and entering their bedroom. He carefully put his older brother down on the lower bunk bed, cogitating on what to do next.

Alright, what should he do now? Call someone? Yes, Alphys, of course! she was a doctor! She could definitely heal the crack on Sans’ skull and-

 

......

 

Wait…. Didn’t Sans have other injuries on his body too? From yesterday?

The way he had strangely teetered when he moved around… how he had used his right arm instead of his left when he obviously was left-handed…?

He should check on those injuries, shouldn’t he? What if they were the cause of Sans’ sudden fall?! What if those parts were already dusting without him even noticing it?!

Papyrus had to make sure that Sans would be alright without his supervision while he called Alphys, right?

The taller skeleton sat down on the bunk bed beside Sans’ shirt-covered body as the older of the two kept laying there without any signs of movement, expect for the occasional rise of his chest taking in slow but steady breaths through his nasal cavity. Papyrus opted for checking his left arm first, slowly and with uppermost care folding up the shirtsleeve until he found what he had timidly hoped wouldn’t be there.

On the unconscious skeleton’s left radius and ulna was a sloppily wrapped bandage. There were slightly faded spots of red and yellow marrow staining the thin cloth. Papyrus couldn’t restrain the shudder running through his bones at the sight, but quickly shakes it off as he mentally prepares himself to re-wrap the bandage properly and get a closer look at the wound.

He carefully unwraps it and inspects the piteous wound closer, inwardly recoiling at the display in front of him.

As he had expected, Sans’ left radius and ulna had deep cracks down to the marrow. Even to the point of almost breaking his bones in half, Papyrus noticed with disquiet apprehension. It would heal with some doses of healing magic and monster food, but for now, it would have to do with a new bandage until he’s done checking for any more injuries.

The taller skeleton quickly sprints out of the bedroom to get new bandages from the first aid kit in the bathroom, not wishing to leave his brother longer than necessary if he was suffering from any other bone-related fractions. Just a few seconds went by before he hurriedly re-entered the bedroom again and wrapped on the new bandages to the wound, mindlessly throwing the old one into the trashcan beside their bunk bed, not caring enough about whether he actually hit it or not. 

Right, with his left arm taken care of for now, he should check the rest of Sans’ body for any other wounds.

Glancing over the smaller skeleton shirt-covered bones, (seriously Sans, can’t you be a LITTLE more modest about what you wear at night? Do you ALWAYS have to sleep in your daywear shirt?!) it suddenly clicked in his mind about what Sans had told him yesterday;

 

“Heh, don’t worry bro. I just ended up falling on my rump by accident on my way back home.”

 

That’s right… Sans did say that yesterday. But he had just quickly glanced it off with some excuse about it “only being a bruise” and “that it wasn’t anything serious that he couldn’t patch up on his own”…

However, there was no way that the great Papyrus was going to take any risks about whether it was serious or not. What if he had broken his tailbone?! Or any other bones around the pelvis area for that matter?! He had to make sure if that was true or not!

With newfound but dreadful anticipation to find what he sincerely hoped wouldn’t be the case, he hesitantly took hold of the lower hem of his older brother’s shirt and lift it up.

 

“…?!”

 

He froze. His body went completely rigid at the appalling sight before him.

 

……

 

He was shocked by the baffling display presented to him, never expecting to find something as perplexing and worrying at the same time as this!

 

No wonder his brother had such a hard time walking around yesterday, he realized to his unsettling dismay.

 

The holes in Sans’ sacrum, both the inside and outside of his sacral dorsal foramina’s, were all filled with blemishing bruises and scratches trailing in all kinds of odd directions and all the way down to his tailbone. 

 

Whatever it was that had caused this, Papyrus could already conclude - to his unfortunate perturbation - that it seemed to had forced its way through those holes, as every bruise and scratch seemed to be originating inside every dorsal sacral foramen before they trailed and faded throughout the edges of his sacrum.

 

Papyrus was frightened. Alarmed.

 

And very, very worried for his older brother…

 

What in god’s name happened to him?!

 

Why are there bruises and cracks in his sacrum of all places?!

 

Did someone do this to him?! who did this?! Why would they do something like this?! Who could DO something like this?! Who- 

 

Then it clicked inside his skull once again.

 

Papyrus let go of Sans’ shirt, his grasp tight and slightly shaking in distress from the sudden revelation that he never could’ve anticipated. he gently smoothed out the shirt to cover his brother’s body once again, grabbing the blanket on the bed to envelope him with before standing up.

He already knew who had done this. Or at least, at this point, he was pretty certain of who it was.

Who else could it have been otherwise? Sans was completely capable of defending himself against both humans and monsters in combat, so to incur those injuries in such a bewildering place on his body shouldn’t even be possible for him.

Expect…

There was one common enemy who Sans had to encounter on almost a daily basis without fighting back, a social institution who for some disheartening reason felt the need to punish the smaller skeleton’s very existence every time they brought him over to their business establishment.

The cops…

Why did they do this? How could they DO something like this?

He could understand the conceptual demand for punishment for breaking the law, of course. Papyrus has admittedly experienced that himself once in his life. But this? This wasn’t punishment for someone else’s repugnant behavior or commitment of a serious crime. This was just downright assault towards a monster that they didn’t even have any proof of ever committing any crimes listed in the book of laws. They just brought him in for ‘interrogations’ whenever they felt like it, using him as a vent for whatever the reason was behind their hatred towards the monster race as a whole.

Papyrus could never understand how people like them could end up being so cruel to one another…

He couldn’t understand why there was such a need for them to be so afraid and hateful towards not only monsters, but even their own race. Those humans who got discriminated for being open-minded. For being a “monster lover”.

He couldn’t understand how the world could end up being so harsh and misguided.

But gosh, did he want to understand.

After all, he wasn’t one to hold any grudges towards anyone or anything, no matter what sins they had committed. Not ever.

He wanted to help those people. He wanted to try to understand them, to support them, to believe in them that they could do better if they just tried. Both the people who accepted their race, and does who didn’t…

All these troubling thoughts kept spiraling inside his skull for a while until Papyrus finally snapped out of it, realizing that he still hadn’t called anyone for help yet. He turned around from the bunk bed and skittered out the bedroom, rushing his way down the hallway and into the kitchen to reach for the telephone standing in the corner of the kitchen table.

He instantly recalled Alphys’ number as he with undemanding experience swiftly dialed it on the phone and listened impatiently as the signal beeped for someone to pick up. The tall skeleton desperately hoped that the lizard monster would be home and available to come over and help. Papyrus wasn’t sure if he could keep all this queasy weight on his shoulders anymore after this nerve-wracking experience. He could take on the responsibility of caring for others with no trouble at all, but even the great Papyrus had his limits for how much he had to aid all on his own. Sans needed all the help he could get, both from his younger brother and his friends!

A fifth signal went by until finally, he heard a small and slightly squeaky voice answering on the other side of the phone receiver.

“U-um hello, D-Dr. Alphys speaking?” She answered sheepishly on the other side, obviously unaware of who exactly she was talking to. 

“Hello Alphys, it’s Papyrus.” He answered wearily, not having the usual chipper energy in his tone of voice now after what he had just discovered. 

“P-Papyrus? Hi, um... Is s-something wrong? You d-don’t sound very… happy?” Alphys replied tentatively, noticing the skeleton’s concerning change of tone in his ordinarily merry voice.

He sighed tiredly and pinched the bone over his nasal cavity with his left phalanges as he collected himself for what he was going to say next. He didn’t want to end up alarming his friend more than necessary. He’s already sorely fed up with all this anxiety as it is right now.

“I… Yes, something’s wrong and I really need your help!” Papyrus answered with a slight tone of desperation slipping out of him before he could stop himself. “It’s about Sans…”

He heard the lizard monster taking a short breath on the other line. She sounded like she was nervous for some reason.

“u-um, what’s wrong? D-did something happen to him?” she asked timidly, sounding pretty anxious about what the answer would be to that question.

The tall skeleton took a deep breath before continuing. “I was cooking breakfast as usual this morning when suddenly, I heard this loud cracking noise from the bathroom! I found Sans lying unconscious on the floor with a crack on his forehead! I tried waking him up but he won’t respond to me at all! I… I don’t know why or how it happened but I need your help! He needs treatment right now and… I just don’t know what to do Alphys!”

He hadn’t meant to sound so desperate for help, but recalling this whole predicament with all the anxiety and dread he had felt then and was feeling right now, he couldn’t help but let his voice waver and almost crack from the fear over his older brother welling up inside his chest and threatening to manifest itself into woeful tears in his eye sockets.

A short, shocked gasp emitted from the receiver.

“O-oh my gosh!” she undoubtedly sounded frightened by the sudden news, but seemed to try and collect herself again if the large intake of oxygen was any indicator. She continued after a moment of calming her nerves. “U-um okay uh, h-how is his breathing? h-how long has he been unconscious?”

Papyrus tried to recall how long this whole situation had gone by since he found Sans in the bathroom. He answered her question uncertainly.

“Um, h-he’s breathing normally I think, it’s very slow but calm nonetheless… I think it’s been about fifteen or twenty minutes by now…?”

Alphys continued with her questions, but was obviously very worried and anxious about Sans condition as well as she continued to stutter them hurriedly and nervously through the phone receiver.  
“O-okay um, d-does he have any other injuries on his body? I-I need to know what and where they are in full detail, p-please.”

The tall skeleton took a deep breath again before answering the question. He had of course expected that inquiry, but the truth behind it still hurt - like a sharp knife cutting into his bones - just thinking about the physical injuries on the older brother’s body and where they had potentially come from…

He exhaled the breath with a deep sigh and answered;

“He… has injuries that wasn’t caused by the fall this morning… I think he got them yesterday while I was at work.”

Papyrus thought he heard her hitch her breath for a second before she timidly coaxed him to elaborate on the topic.

“W-what kind of injuries are they Papyrus? I-I really n-need to know in order to help Sans...”

Her voice was sounding a bit tenser this time as she waited uneasily for the skeleton monster to answer.

Papyrus braced himself for his upcoming speech. He had to make this as quick but detailed as possible, they were both losing precious time in helping Sans if he was just going to beat around the bush about this. He had to act rationally from now on, not let his emotions come forth and disturb this resolution.

“…His left radius and ulna has been snapped almost in half, down to the marrow.” He said matter-of-factly, not letting any of his emotions get in the way of explaining the situation. “Some of the marrow had already leaked out on the old bandage that was wrapped on his arm when I checked on him…” He continued, pausing for a bit to only hear silence on the other line, the yellow monster presumably listening intently on the information being passed over the phone.

So he continued to explain the second, and more alarming, injury on his older brother’s body.

“He also has bruises and small cracks in his dorsal sacral foramina…”

An awkward silence stretched through the phone line as Papyrus waited impatiently for Alphys to finally comprehend what she had just heard.

“Uh wait, y-you mean… he has bruises and c-cracks in the holes of his sacrum…?!” As he had expected, she sounded very alarmed by this information. Being a doctor, she knew very well which part of the body Papyrus was talking about. “How-?!”

Papyrus sighed heavily, almost letting out an annoyed grumble at how much time they were wasting on talking instead of acting. 

But he had to stay calm. Just stay rational and everything would be fine.

“Alphys, I don’t know exactly how he got those bruises, but you need to come over right away and help him, please!” He called desperately through the phone, hoping that would be enough for her to finally collect all the medical supplies she needed and get over here.

She immediately squeaked in surprise at Papyrus’ sudden plea through the phone receiver, but quickly took in the distressed message and answered.

“Ah, y-yes of course! I-I’ll get going right away!” She announced in a high-pitched voice of anxiety before she hung up the phone.

Papyrus deflated slightly from his tense posture, a small wave of relief washing over him now with the cognizance that help was on its way.

He quickly hurried back to the bedroom to check if Sans was awake. One step by the bedroom doorway however was enough for him to see that the smaller skeleton has been lying in the same place as he had left him without any signs of movement, expect for the unchanging slow and steady lifting of his chest. At least that was a good sign, right…?

The taller skeleton slowly dragged his feet in exhaustion towards the bunk bed, all this pent-up anxiety filling him up more and more for every passing minute as he restlessly waited for the doctor to arrive. He sat down beside Sans, watching his unconscious body attentively for any symptoms of awakening or… 

Dying... 

Both worry and guilt started manifesting itself inside his very soul, growing like a virus just multiplying and increasing in volume the more he tried to push it down and ignore it. Feelings of inutility and grief washed over him wave after wave after wave until finally, he couldn’t keep it up anymore. He let his walls of confidence and strength break down, like a tsunami breaking the dam holding the balance of his life together. He couldn’t do this anymore. It was just too much to handle…

All this obliviousness and naiveté to appease his brother from his worries, the extreme uneasiness and anxiety stinging inside his chest whenever Sans just suddenly disappeared without any knowledge of whether he would come back or not. the fear that one day, Sans wouldn’t be home. He could be trapped at the police station with those humans’ endless torture. He could be lying on the streets unconscious to never wake up or never be found again by anyone…

 

Sans could die if this horrible lifestyle of his continued…

 

His brother may already be dying right now, never to wake up again. 

 

Never to tell his terrible puns or plague Papyrus’ life with incidental music.

 

To never again experience those few times in his life when his older brother was actually happy, genuinely smiling, truly laughing…

 

No more reassuring hugs when either of them seek each other’s comfort…

 

No more Sans…

 

Only dust…

 

Tears trailed down his bony cheeks as he whimpered and cried out everything that hurt him, everything that hurt his brother, everything that was just too much for him to handle anymore. Tall and slender bones rattled loudly against each other from his intensifying shivering, magic-induced tears staining his clothes as he sniffled and hiccupped and just let himself get consumed by his own misery just this one time.

 

He was so scared… god, he was just so, so scared… They couldn’t go on like this, not anymore…!

 

He forced himself to take deep and steady breaths as he tried to calm himself down as much as possible.

 

Inhale…

 

No more of this horrible cruelty. No more visits to the police station for Sans anymore. He wouldn’t allow it, not anymore!

 

Exhale…

 

Papyrus would protect Sans. He would never let his obliviousness or naiveté go before him ever again. Not ever!

 

Inhale…

 

He was determined to make this work. To protect his brother, to find some other way around this predicament they’ve tangled themselves into. He swore to himself that he would make it all work out with positive results in the end. He absolutely would! He absolutely had to!

 

Exhale…

 

Suddenly, Papyrus heard rapping knocks emitting from the hallway.

 

She’s finally here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, it's done! :D  
> But once again, the chapter became waaaay longer than i initially anticipated... so guess what? there's gonna be a fourth chapter too~!  
> (goddamn i write way too much, but i can't help it man...!)  
> so, i hope you guys enjoy this chapter for now~!  
> and again, thank you all so SO much for all the kudos, bookmarks and comments on this series~! It 's really REALLY appreciated greatly, and always makes my heart melt with gratitude for you all! Thank you all for the wonderful support~! <3 <3 <3

As quickly as he heard the familiar rapping knocks of a clawed fist hitting the front door and reverberating throughout the hallway, Papyrus all but rocketed from where he was seated, out of the bedroom and down the hallway to answer the repeating rat-a-tat on the other side.

She was here already? Wait, what time was it exactly? Has he really been grieving in his and his brother’s wretchedness for that long? It felt like it was just minutes ago since he called Alphys! 

By the sounds of it, the tall skeleton would undoubtedly get his questions answered soon enough as he finally reached the front door and quickly turned the lock. He hastily pushed the door open and to his gratifying relief, the doctor was standing there in the staircase hall with a huge medical bag by her side. She seemed to be slightly alarmed by the sudden movement of the door opening as she flinched at the sound of the door creaking loudly from its hinges. Alphys rapidly spun her head from where she had once watched the floor in contemplation towards Papyrus, staring at him with a surprised and almost frightened look on her face.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here Alphys!” Papyrus exclaimed in alleviating gratefulness. He turned around as he made an inviting gesture to the lizard monster to follow him inside. “He’s in our bedroom, this way!” The skeleton briskly added, scurrying through the hallway and unintentionally advancing away from the much smaller monster in tow trying to keep up with Papyrus’ hurried stride.

“U-um, I’m s-so sorry for taking so long! U-Undyne wasn’t home when you called, s-so she couldn’t drive me over here…” Alphys stuttered from behind, small scaly feet almost tripping over themselves as she eagerly followed Papyrus towards the bedroom. “I-I had to take the bus instead, so…” she trailed off, not seeming to know how to end the sentence as the pair finally entered the room were the smaller - and still unconscious – skeleton was in his lower trunk bed.

Alphys immediately set into action as she hurriedly stood by Sans side with her medical bag in hand, carefully removing the blanket with slightly shaking claws from his body. From what Papyrus could tell at seeing his brother’s tranquil form still laying in the same undisturbed position on the bed, it seemed like there had been no drastic changes to Sans condition while he had waited for the doctor to arrive. his body showed no signs of turning to dust, but the fact that he was still unconscious after what must have been at least an hour or so, the taller skeleton couldn’t rule out the possibility that Sans actually might have fallen down…

An involuntary shudder ran through his body at the thought, once again filling his mind with anxiety and dread at the possible outcomes to this horrible predicament.

“Oh god, please don’t let him have fallen down!” Papyrus begged inwardly as he restlessly watched the doctor opening the medical bag, reaching her scaly hands down into its contents. She pulled out a weird-looking, medium-sized device that Papyrus never had seen before, nor could guess what kind of purpose such a perplexing object could serve. 

Alphys gently placed the rectangular device on top of Sans’ shirt-clothed sternum, pressing and switching a couple of buttons here and there when suddenly, the mysterious instrument lit up in a dim, greenish light flashing over the smaller skeleton’s chest and through his slightly wrinkled shirt. It occasionally emitted odd blipping sounds while the lizard monster just sat there, watching the device intently as it executed its presumably expected purpose. 

After a moment of dim flashes and repetitive blipping sounds, the doctor picked up the device again to then watch the small, lit-up screen that was attached to it, displaying various kinds of numbers and letters that flashed over the screen in a bewildering mess. Papyrus was confused to say the least, as to what he assumed was some kind of coded writing being displayed on the screen, could possibly decipher. He wouldn’t really question it though, as Alphys obviously seemed to know what she was doing and could probably translate the numbers and letters pretty easily herself. He wondered however to his puzzlement what those cryptic messages was supposed to mean…

“H-he’s alright, I think… he hasn’t fallen down from what I can tell from the monitor r-readings.” Alphys suddenly said as she turned towards Papyrus standing by her side and showed him the odd-looking device within her clawed hands, the numerous letters and numbers displayed on the screen making less and less sense to the tall skeleton the more he tried to decipher them.

“H-his magical energy is a little weak however, b-but Its only because his physical body seems to be exhausted for some reason…” Alphys continued, a much calmer, but still worried look on her face as she glanced over Sans’ still form and seemed to be in deep cogitation. “M-monsters’ bodies are made from the very culmination of their being after all, which mainly consists of magic, s-so our physical matter is pretty weak to any kind of physical exertion, e-especially if our magical energy is too low…” She concluded with a hint of melancholy to her hushed tone of voice, clawed fingers fiddling the device in her hands from a habit of discomfort as she kept her concerned gaze on her sleeping patient.

Papyrus deflated immensely at the news, knowing now that Sans hadn’t fallen down, and couldn’t help the small sigh of relief slipping out of him as his anxiety lowered to a much more comprehendable level. 

“U-um sorry, but um… Y-you said earlier on the phone that he had injuries? L-left radius and ulna was c-cracked down to the marrow, right? And his… D-dorsal sacral foramina’s…?” Alphys stuttered nervously in their shared moment of tense silence as she tried to maintain eye contact with Papyrus’ unfocused sockets, snapping Papyrus away from his miserable thoughts and straightened up to attention.

“A-ah, yes, that’s right!” Papyrus answered a little too quickly, moving closer to Sans as he sat down by his side and carefully folded up the left sleeve on the smaller skeleton’s shirt.

He proceeded by gently lifting Sans’ left arm for Alphys as she put the device down on the floor and moved forward to unwrap the bandage and examine the wound.

“O-okay, I’m just going to heal this for a bit…” the lizard monster said tensely and closed her eyes as her scaly hands hovered over the injury in her patient’s arm, forcing herself to relax and concentrate on the objective.

Soon enough, green wisps of light started sparking and flicker around her clawed fingers and shone down upon the deep cracks in the radius and ulna, slowly but surely healing the wounds as they shrinked in size and depth and faded out until there was only small crooked lines left on the small, pale bones.

Alphys whole demeanor deflated and sagged downwards as she seemed to be slightly out of breath, if her heavy but collected breathing was any indicator to her drained posture. After a moment however, she slowly straitened up and opened her tightly shut eyes from concentration, looking at Papyrus and giving him a sheepish smile of reassurance, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. 

“T-that’s all I can do on his arm for now, b-but the cracks that are left should fade out completely with time, a-as long as Sans eats monster food regularly and makes sure to rest properly.” She said, trying her best to sound as heartened and hopeful as possible. 

“Thank you so much Alphys.” Papyrus replied with genuine gratitude to his shy friend, relieved to know that her healing magic was enough to heal the physical parts of Sans body. “I’m so thankful for all the help you bring to me and Sans! I don’t know what I would’ve done without you!” The skeleton monster added as he perked up from his previous anxiety, relishing the knowledge that Sans would be okay and wasn’t in any danger of dusting or falling down anymore.

The doctor visibly blushed at the compliment, averting her gaze to the fiddling, scaly hands laying in her lap as a small, bashful smile twitched into place. She chuckled awkwardly for a bit before she replied.

“U-um, I-it’s nothing really, I just um… j-just doing my job…” 

An awkward moment of silence followed between the two before the lizard monster suddenly bounced her head up towards Papyrus and exclaimed in her usual nervous voice;

“Oh, u-um there’s still that other wound I need to check out, r-right? The one in his s-sacrum…?” she faltered slightly at the last word of her spoken sentence, an anxious gaze on her face shifting back and forth between Papyrus sitting beside her and Sans’ still body on the bed.

“Oh, right!” Papyrus quickly answered, scooting closer to Sans’ abdomen as Alphys waited patiently beside the taller skeleton for him to lift Sans’ shirt up and show her the injury.

Papyrus mentally readied himself for the disheartening sight he had to encounter once again, the previous images of bruises and scratches burning vividly inside his skull as he tentatively grasped the lower hem of the unconscious skeleton’s shirt. He lifts it up to the base of Sans’ spine, exposing his damaged sacrum to the doctor as Papyrus shifted a bit on the bed to give Alphys more space to sit on. She advanced towards her patient, an appalled and upsetting expression forming on her face as she took in the disconcerting display before her very eyes. 

“Oh, gosh…” she whispered under her breath as she intently examined the damage, squinting and focused eyes slightly wavering from her initial perturbation and concern over her friend.

The lizard monster then turned to her medical bag once again and rummaged through it to find a small tin can, one that Papyrus had no idea of what it contained. Maybe it was some kind of cream to heal wounds with? Or maybe it contained Band-Aids?

His slim curiosity was swiftly answered as the doctor once again sat closer to Sans’ pelvis area with tin can in clawed hand, and opened it. She dipped her right index and middle finger into the creamy, white substance inside the can to then reach her coated fingers towards his sacrum, carefully spreading a thick layer of the medical lotion inside and around the edges of his dorsal sacral foramina’s. 

A mumbling noise emitted from the unconscious skeleton as Alphys continued her ministrations, his bony hips trembling slightly from the received contact of scaly fingers stroking against bone. but there were no signs of him stirring up from his deep slumber as the rest of Sans’ body continued laying there limply on the bed, half-lidded and hollow eye sockets staring up at the ceiling and small intakes of oxygen drifting through his nasal cavity, making his chest move steadily up and down, over and over…

Papyrus thought for once that it was probably a good thing for his brother to not wake up right now at this moment. he would undoubtedly feel pretty uncomfortable and guilty otherwise with being taken care of like this when he had tried so hard to hide his discomfort from them all, especially from his own fictitiously oblivious brother. 

After only a minute or so, Alphys finished applying the creamy lotion to Sans’ sacrum, but let his wrinkled shirt stay folded up as it was instead of covering it over his ‘private parts’ once again.

“U-um, it’ll take a while for the salve to soak into the bone, s-so uh, it’s best not to pull down his shirt yet or it’ll get stained…” She answered the unspoken question before Papyrus could inquire and pulled out a couple of tissues from the bag to clean her cream-covered fingers.

After cleaning up all her medical equipment and storing it inside her medical bag, the two monsters just sat there on the bed side by side, weary eyes and sockets subconsciously staring down on the mattress and its wrinkled sheets, glancing over the sleeping skeleton’s slowly heaving chest and heavily drooping eye sockets. Somber silence was their only shared company aside from the small hum of calm breathing flowing in and out of Sans’ physical being. 

Papyrus knew of course what was going to happen next. He just waited for it, waited for the other monster beside him to start the conversation that had to be followed, patiently awaiting the lingering question hanging in the air between the two to be audibly phrased to him, the one question that Papyrus was pretty certain that he could answer, with or without evidence to back it up.

Alphys straitened up from her slumped posture as she gave a discreet cough and braced herself for the upcoming answer to her question.

“U-um, y-you said earlier on the phone that… You didn’t know how he got those injuries…”

Alphys corroborated meekly, her anxious gaze kept down to her clawed thumbs twiddling against each other once again in her lap, her small posture caving in on itself as if a boulder of guilt and shame was crushing down on her scaly shoulder blades.

Papyrus could understand why she was acting like she was oblivious to the obvious answer, knowing full-well himself that Alphys had probably been asked by Undyne not to tell the younger skeleton about Sans’ reoccurring visits to the police station, a request presumably carried over from Sans. Or maybe it was Sans himself who had told her personally to keep her worries a secret from his younger brother? it wouldn’t surprise Papyrus at all if that was the case. No doubt, having to keep such a secret when she herself was clearly concerned over Sans’ well-being must be painfully straining on her poor nerves…

Papyrus continued to watch the wrinkled sheets beneath his bent legs, trying his best to gather his troubled thoughts and figure out an appropriate way to answer the doctor’s unfortunately veracious predictions. Telling her about his cognizance of Sans’ relationship with the cops wasn’t really the most perturbing part he was concerned about in replying to her inquietude, even if it pained his very soul to have to affirm the distressing plight that surely would add to her ever-growing pile of anxiety and guilt for not having done anything sooner.

No, the part that concerned him the most about telling her the truth was the question of whether Alphys would be truthful to him too, if the fact was that she actually knew more about Sans’ situation than she initially let on or not. Maybe she knew of some vital information that could aid in their mission to help Sans? Maybe Sans had shared his trust and burdens to the lizard monster once or twice before, those few times when she was called in to heal a serious injury on him and no one else was around to eavesdrop?

Papyrus inhaled through his nasal cavity and slowly let out a deep breath as he readied his upcoming speech to the monster waiting patiently beside him. He turned his head, locking his determined but slightly weary eye sockets with Alphys’ anxious gaze, tacitly coaxing her to listen carefully to every word that were to be spoken upon her and her alone.

“Alphys… I know about Sans’ situation with the police. I know that you all have been trying to keep it a secret from me, which I do not blame you for at all! I know that you guys only did it out of consideration for my own well-being, that hearing about my brother’s horrible predicaments with the cops would make me devastated, and undoubtedly, make me feel guilty too over the fact that I wasn’t there to help him when he needed it the most…”

Papyrus paused for a moment, taking in the woeful expression displayed on his dear friend’s face from the unexpected reveal of his actual awareness and the confessions that he had to make. But before he could let Alphys interpose with an apology or confession of her own, he had to finish his own acknowledgement of it all to her. He had to convey his unfaltering strength of understanding and accepting the cruelty that lingered in their reality, that he wasn’t as naïve and oblivious to everyone’s problems as everyone thought he was.

Papyrus wasn’t a baby bones anymore.

He wasn’t some kind of petulant child who needed constant protection from the real world’s harsh truths.

He had to prove that fact to everyone once and for all if he was ever going to reach the goals he set for himself and his future from now on.

“But… I can’t just continue standing idly by and pretend to be oblivious to everything that’s happening around me anymore… To be completely honest, I have known about this particular problem for quite a while now. About Sans being ‘interrogated’ by the police, when in reality, he’s just being brought to their institution to get abused for no justified reason…”

The tall skeleton let a small sigh of sadness slip through his clenched teeth, his gaze towards the lizard monster wavering slightly from the distressing truth. But he continued to retain his focus on what he had to do, on what he had to elucidate to his friend. 

“I… We can’t continue like this Alphys. Not anymore. I know that Sans has probably asked of you, and everyone else for that matter, to not worry about him. That he’s fine and that he can handle it. And to not tell me anything about it as a means of protecting my ‘innocence’ or my beliefs in that everyone can be a good person, if they just try.”

“But instead of actually protecting me, he’s not only making things worse for me by lying straight to my face and expecting me to just accept everything that happens to him and move on, but he’s making it exceptionally worse for himself. He pretends to be happy when clearly, he’s not. I know how Sans really looks like when he’s truly happy, and the face he wears these days when were together is not his true expression of happiness, not like the one he used to have before we joined the gang.”

“He’s suffering from severe sleep deprivation to the point where he faints in the bathroom unexpectedly and cracks his skull! He comes home with his clothing teared and dirtied in such bewildering places, telling lies and cracking jokes about how he fell asleep in the middle of the road or walked into a pole five times in a row, expecting me to believe all those fairy tales that never explains how he got his arm broken or how he suddenly has a crack in his eye socket!”

Papyrus stopped, realizing that his anxiety was getting the better of him as his speech was turning too hysterical and desperate for his inclination. He tried to relax his tense posture that he hadn’t even noticed befalling him, taking deep breaths as he concentrated on keeping his calm and to finish his speech without turning too emotional. 

Alphys meanwhile just sat there, stiff as a board in shock from all these sudden revelations and feeling immensely guilty for harboring such a one-dimensional view of him before all this happened. She didn’t dare to say anything, anticipating that Papyrus still hadn’t finished letting his true thoughts and feelings out yet, which obviously seemed to be a much needed desideratum at the moment. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how devastated Papyrus must be, how much of all that uneasiness and concern for his brother could be rooted with this distressing fear for how close Sans could be to eventually falling down, to maybe never wake up again and reach the point where he would turn to dust and stop existing in the younger skeleton’s life…

Papyrus eventually got himself together enough to continue, once again turning his head towards the doctor and seeking for her outmost attention as he re-locked his unwavering gaze upon her now tremulously solicitous eyes, eagerly awaiting his next discourse.

“He… I don’t think he even cares about himself anymore, about his own self-worth or how precious he actually is not only to me, but to you guys as well. Honestly, the only reason that he actually joined our gang was because I wanted to, and probably because he only wanted to be there to protect me, no matter what…”

He paused, sighing heavily and feeling even more mentally and physically exhausted than ever before in his usually vigorous life. What more was there to say, really? Even with his adamant determination to make things right for Sans’ sake, there was still so many questions yet to be answered, so many things that had to be done in order for him to help his older brother. There was the gang, Asgore, Toriel and Undyne that he had to have a serious talk with regarding Sans’ position as a distraction bait for the cops. But the most worrisome task on his skeletal hands was probably Sans himself. No doubt, he would reject Papyrus’ help and try to reassure him for the umpteenth time how “fine” he really was and maybe even ignore his friends’ support in the matter as well.

Coming up empty with anything more to add to his already prolonged speech, he decided to just stop there for now and finally let Alphys speak her mind about the situation instead. He lowered his eye sockets back to the messily wrinkled sheets, mindlessly straitening it with his long and slender hands as he waited for Alphys to say something. Just anything, really. He just hoped that whatever she was going to say would be as truthful and genuine as his words had been. He was so tired of being lied to at this point, even if those lies only existed to protect him from things that made him upset or disheartened.

Papyrus glanced over to the doctor beside him, her eyes once again locked to her twiddling thumbs down her lap as she seemed to be in deep cogitation, carefully considering what to even respond to such concerning revelations being confessed to her and only her, of all people.

The lizard monster took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly as she turned her head towards the skeleton once more, trying her hardest to keep her resolution intact as she locked eyes with stouthearted and hopeful eye sockets.

“P-Papyrus I… I’m so sorry you had to go through all that, I really, really am. I-I had no idea that you knew or that Sans’ situation with the police had affected him to this point…!”

She couldn’t keep her gaze up with the skeleton for too long, lowering it yet again to her clawed hands wringing each other in a nervous habit of anxiety and ever-increasing guilt. Her small demeanor started trembling as she spoke. 

“O-of course I… I knew that Sans was being a-abused by those guys, b-but I never knew to what extent that entailed! Whenever I was called over to heal him, h-he always said that it wasn’t a big deal and s-sometimes he told me all kinds of different reasons for how he ended up with such injuries in the first place, l-like that he got into a fight o-or that he slipped or…”

Her small but anxious voice was quivering at this point, but that didn’t stop her from continuing her requisite speech for atonement. She forced herself to make eye contact with Papyrus again, her slightly wavering eyes bent on showing him how much she really cared for the skeleton brothers and how greatly she wanted to help, to support, to do whatever was needed to make things right.

“I-I could tell that he was lying… I used to do that a lot too before I met Undyne, so… I-I knew that I should’ve done at least something but… H-he always told me… A-almost begged me, every time not to tell anyone… especially not y-you…”

The remorseful doctor glanced over to Sans’ still unmoving body, only the steady breathing from his chest lifting and lowering visibly proving his existence in the silent bedroom.

“H-he always trusted me with those secrets, a-and he always seemed so grateful for that, thanking me for patching him up a-and taking the time to actually hang out with me sometimes… L-like reading and discussing about the greatest comic book heroes o-or listening to soap operas or…”

Tears were welling up in Alphys’ repentant eyes, being hurriedly rubbed away by her shaking shirtsleeve as she turned her head down and sniffled, trying so very hard to compose herself and not let her emotions take over. 

Papyrus was in all candidness touched by the sincerity of her confessions, feeling such an immense gratitude to his friend not only because she had been truthful to him about her knowledge of Sans’ situation, but also because of the fact that she cared so very much for both him and his brother’s well-being. Of course she wouldn’t have told anyone about this, because she didn’t want to break Sans’ trust, didn’t want to make him upset with her and lose the friendship that they shared with each other.

Papyrus sighed in acknowledgement as he scooted closer to Alphys, slowly reaching his arms out to her in a decision to hug his dear friend. The doctor realized what the tall skeleton was about to do as he began encircling his arms around her small and trembling form, but she didn’t oppose to the gesture, letting herself slump against him and tentatively reach her own short arms around his back, resting her scaly palms against it.

They sat like that for a moment, basking in the for once comfortable silence that hanged in the air and gave them solace through its indefinable ambiance, a mood that currently felt so warm and reassuring of the other’s empathy and forgiveness for actions that have or haven’t been done.

Alphys was the first to timidly break the silence with a nervous chuckle.

“I-I’m sorry, I uh… d-didn’t mean to get so emotional, heh…”

Papyrus slowly detached himself from the hug to look down at his small friend, a broad smile stretching on his face as he shook his head in countenance.

“There’s no need to apologize for that Alphys, it’s alright. I know how hard it is to keep all of your worries inside and never let them out.”

Alphys looked up to meet Papyrus’ reassuring eye sockets, a small smile of gratitude growing on her face as she averted her gaze shyly and blushed in slight embarrassment, mumbling out a ‘thank you’.

 

Suddenly, the sound of a phone rang loudly throughout the apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally it's done! But guess what? there's gonna be ANOTHER chapter cause I obviously can't write things short... So have this angsty shit of a chapter for now.  
> I'm really sorry for taking such a long time writing stuff, I'm just really slow at this and the self-doubt and depression gets to me sometimes...  
> But I'm sincerely grateful for all the comments, kudos and bookmarks from you all! It's partly thanks to you guys that I'm able to actually continue this wild ride, so thank you all so SO much for the support! <3 <3 <3

The two monsters sitting on the bed almost jolted at the sudden ringing of a telephone reverberating throughout the apartment, breaking the once comfortable silence that had lingered in the air between them and was now replaced by endless, repeating “RING RING!!!” noises originating from the kitchen.

Papyrus had in a millisecond recognized the sound to be the telephone on the kitchen table, so he rapidly jumped off the bed, stumbling over himself in his (impossibly enough) adrenaline rushed state as he scurried over to the bedroom door leading out to the hallway, swiftly turning his head towards his almost frightened friend clenching the sheets in sudden surprise before he was out of sight.

“U-um excuse me for a minute, I’ll be right back!” The skeleton said before he darted down the hallway and through the kitchen, catching his breath with non-existent lungs as he reached for the phone handle on the table. He immediately straightened up his slightly drained posture and stopped his otiosely heavy breathing as he answered the phone, like he hadn’t just hurried ridiculously fast to answer a call that didn’t necessarily have to be answered that urgently.

However, as he heard the familiar loud and slightly raucous voice from a certain friend of his emitting from the other line, Papyrus felt somewhat uncertain about whether it was a wise choice to answer the phone that importunately or not. With their current situation of the gang’s distraction bait being severely injured and the current caller’s girlfriend being summoned over to help, it wasn’t the greatest of times to have a friendly chat with the red-haired woman who could easily drive with the speed of lightning - and intentional ignorance to the laws of traffic - over to his apartment and noogie the skeleton in a fit of exacerbation if he deliberately ignored her calls.

Well, it was too late to debate on those choices now that he held the phone handle a couple of centimeters from his skull, a recurring attempt to save himself from the brief headache that could follow with the fish monster’s strained vocal cords roaring through the receiver. 

“Hey there punk! How’s it going? Didn’t think you’d actually be home to answer! Aren’t you usually down at the restaurant at this time of the day?” Undyne greeted and asked with her usual booming tone, evidently oblivious about the predicament that had taken place in the skeleton’s apartment a few moments ago.

Papyrus stiffened at the last question of the brash woman’s sentence in dreaded realization. He had totally forgot about his restaurant! Grillby must be waiting at the establishment for the skeleton monster, surely confused as to why the owner hasn’t come to open the restaurant yet! Good grief, he had to call the elemental quickly and tell him to take the day off! That is, if the elemental was actually going to give up waiting for him and go home, or if the flame’s going to come by the skeletons apartment instead and get an explanation in person? Gosh, what a mess this day had become…!

“Uh, Paps? Hello?” Undyne continued bemusedly when she didn’t get an answer, the tall skeleton startling back to attention and remembering that he was on the phone and still hadn’t responded to his friend’s questions yet.

“Ah, s-sorry Undyne! I was just um…” Papyrus answered a little too hastily as he reflected over how to explain the initial situation he had tangled himself into. He knew of course that just being upfront with her was probably the best solution to pander to, but admittedly, this wasn’t the greatest of times to share his concerns about Sans’ health when he hadn’t even spoken to him himself about it yet. The younger skeleton already had enough on his hands to contemplate over as it was. Have a serious talk with Sans, which was a pretty big challenge in itself, continue sharing the few concerns and confessions that he still had left with Alphys, call Grillby and explain about the owner’s absence, the ever-growing list goes on.

“Hey, is something wrong? Did I call ya’ on a bad time? I can wait and call you later instead if ya’ want?” Undyne questioned once again, her once loud and fierce voice toning down to a slightly huskier one in brief concern and incertitude. 

Papyrus briefly considered whether he should tell her about the situation or not, but quickly came to the decision of yes, he might as well tell his jubilant friend now in person rather than risking having his skull rubbed with her impressively strong fists for his deficient concealment.

Papyrus sighed in mentally worn-out exhaustion as he took a seat by the kitchen table, his left phalanges mindlessly fiddling with the phone cord and his troubled mind contemplating on what to say next.  
“Undyne… Something happened this morning… Something really bad.”

And so, Papyrus recited in full detail the morning incident to Undyne. The moment when the tall skeleton had heard a loud crack emitting from the bathroom while he was making breakfast, finding his older brother unconscious on the floor and bringing him to bed to then, to his own frightful dread, find Sans’s radius and ulna almost split in half and his dorsal sacral foramina being filled with numerous cracks and bruises. How Papyrus, in his panicked state, had called Alphys for medical attention and the doctor quickly arriving at the brothers’ apartment, healing her patient as she told him that Sans hadn’t fallen down and would recover with time.

He deliberately skipped the part about his emotional conversation with Alphys. The skeleton monster considered it to be a private one that he didn’t want to share with anyone without the lizard monster’s consent to do so.

As he informed Undyne of the prior occurrence over the phone, the fish monster seemed to be both slightly shocked and confused at first as to why and how this whole situation had transpired. But as Papyrus continued to explain his conviction about the connection between Sans’ relationship with the cops and the mysterious wounds on his body, Papyrus noticed during his long and explanatory speech that Undyne had gone almost completely silent, only humming meekly in affirmation from time to time on the other side of the line until the tall skeleton finally finished his discourse.

There was silence hanging between the line of the two close friends with their very different views of the situation, Papyrus knew. He fully expected that Undyne would have an arduous time cogitating on the situation, undoubtedly somewhat irresolute to the solution of not using Sans anymore as a distraction bait, especially when the gang relied on him so much when it was absolutely needed to complete their illegal business. Undyne may think that Sans’ specific task wasn’t something to worry head over heels about, but after the signs that Papyrus has seen on his dear brother, both physically and mentally, it was becoming more and more obvious that they did have a very good reason to worry about him.

A discomfited sigh could be heard through the phone receiver as Papyrus waited uneasily for the fish monster to answer. He wasn’t really sure what to expect for her to say at this point, but hopefully it wouldn’t be another discouraging fact to add to his already crumbling stack of agitation.

“Goddammit…” Undyne mumbled, seemingly lost for words after this sudden information was revealed to her. The red-haired woman clearly wasn’t expecting this to happen when she had called him, which made Papyrus beg the curious question; why had she called him in the first place? She said that she hadn’t expected him to answer and thought that he would be down at the restaurant, didn’t she? So why bother trying to call now and not during the evening when the restaurant was closed instead? Didn’t she herself have business to attend to at this hour?

“Ok wait, so… you said he had cracks in his… ‘dosal sagral foramena’? Sorry if this is a rude question but… What is that? You know I’m not all that good at remembering skeleton bones’ names…” 

Undyne finally responded in a firmer but slightly questioning tone, apparently a little unsettled about what kind of answer she would get from that question. For all she knew, that specific bone might as well be a part of a skeleton’s body that she could definitely live without the knowledge of it, whether it was out of decency for skeleton standards and modesty or just from abashed inexpert about bones’ names was the least of Papyrus’ concerns.

Papyrus sighed inwardly in both petty dejection and gloomy melancholy at the vivid memory of Sans’ wounds, his anxious soul aching with the action of describing exactly what part of Sans that had been physically scarred to someone who certainly would find it equally as alarming and disturbing to the naked eye, or eye socket.

“It’s those small holes in his sacrum. You know, the eight holes in the tailbone?” Papyrus explained in weak perturbation, hoping that was enough of an answer to the fish monster’s question and enough information for her to puzzle together the severity of what that entailed.

Another awkward silence emerged between the two monsters, until Papyrus could hear the very distinct word of realization escape the usually undaunted woman’s shark-toothed mouth in her momentary intuition through the phone.

“Oh…... Oooohhh…...!” Undyne responded, her voice sounding exceedingly mortified at the answer, especially for someone who Papyrus thought didn’t know how pain receptive skeletons really could be – especially around the pelvis area - when someone is really intent on hurting them.

“God Papyrus I…” Undyne slightly faltered, seemingly feeling remorseful for both of the skeleton brothers, akin to how Alphys had felt when she first heard about the real deal with Sans and his frequent visits to the police station. “I didn’t know that-…” 

She sighed heavily, once again lost for words of how to give solace or reassurances to the woeful skeleton who knew that his dear friend was probably feeling just as guilty as her girlfriend did when Papyrus had told her what happened. It was after all Undyne who often gave the orders or tasks to the members of the gang whenever Toriel was absent, and she was the one who had gladly supported Sans' task as a distraction bait when it was first brought up to her and the others, believing that getting beat up once in a while “wasn’t a big deal, everyone in the gangs get hurt from time to time, and it’s just a conventional part of the job, whether you liked it or not.”

Both Sans and Papyrus had of course known about such consequences long before they even joined the gang. The brothers knew what such a profession entailed for the both of them, the risks that they had to take, the violent actions, the very possible odds of getting caught by the cops, you name it.

The skeletons had long accepted these jeopardies to one day catch them unguarded, no matter the circumstances, no matter the cause.

But this current situation, all this unnecessary and illegal abuse from the police, those humans who use their profession as a proper excuse to hurt monsters whenever they want, to bring Sans over for interrogation after interrogation over and over to hurt him, to do awful things that Papyrus couldn’t even begin to imagine what they could be….

The skeleton brothers knew what they had gotten themselves into when they both had agreed to join the gang.

Papyrus however, hadn’t ever in his life agreed to let Sans get abused by the cops to the point where he became the whipping boy for the cops’ shocking cruelty, a victim of unjustified punishment, a thing used for their own selfish ascendancy…

Sans may have already accepted this grim task of degrading torment at this point, this gruesome fate of pretending contented nonchalance, pulling on a fake smile of deteriorating reassurances while bearing with every single punch and kick that came his way, to deal with whatever vicious things they did to him when he was alone with them, to not care anymore about his own well-being for the sake of the gang’s safety, for the sake of his own little brother…

But Papyrus wouldn’t accept that, not anymore. He knew how much it really tortured Sans to go on like this, both inside his very soul and outside his small and slowly disintegrating exterior. How much it was costing him his own self-worth, his mental state, his whole existence.

He just couldn’t let it continue anymore. Whatever it was Sans was suffering so greatly from, it wasn’t worth it. It never has been. And it never will be.

“I knew of course that Sans was getting beaten up by the cops from time to time but… I had no idea that it had gone this far, you know…?” Undyne suddenly continued from the other line, her once brash and loud voice filled with confidence and determination now a meek and pitiful incomer filled with remorse and guilt for a fault that wasn’t hers to bear alone. “He always said that it wasn’t a big deal, that he could handle it, so I just went with it cause’ I thought he really was okay with it and we really needed him to distract the cops anyway so…”

Undyne paused once again, only the small sound of her calm breathing emitting from the phone as Papyrus patiently waited for her to continue, or for his turn to answer her avowal, instinctively twirling the cord of the phone handle between his phalanges in anticipation.

“I’m sorry Papyrus, I really am. I never meant for Sans to get into so much crap, but I thought that it really wasn’t anything to worry about! He always took it so nonchalantly like he didn’t have a care in the world, which honestly ticks me off from time to time with how he never seems to take anything seriously and is way to laid-back for his own good!” Undyne continued once again, her voice slightly rising back to her usual raucous tone when she explained her obvious distaste for Sans’ laziness.

She wasn’t alone on that aversion, Papyrus could relate.

The fish monster however seemed to realize her own distraction from the initial objective in her speech of expiation, and thus swiftly went back to her abnormally meek and almost timid voice again as she turned away from the phone receiver to cough awkwardly into her free fist.

Papyrus didn’t get enough time to respond to her sudden cough fit before she returned to the phone and continued to speak.

“A-anyway, so… I just wanted you to know that I… I’m obviously partly at fault here, so I totally understand if you’re mad at me, and you have all the right to feel that way… But I really mean it when I say that I’m sorry about all this, so…”

Undyne sighed heavily in repentance, her uncertainty making the last of her sentence taper off once again into awkward silence. Papyrus continued to wait patiently on his seat, presuming that the fish monster was probably considering for a moment whether she had something more to add to her apology or not, as he could only hear her calm and steady breathing through the phone.

“Uh, Papyrus? You still there?”

Papyrus frowned slightly in brief confusion at her question before realizing that he had stayed awfully quiet during Undyne’s speech, and since he was a skeleton, he didn’t need to breath the same audible way that the fish monster did through the phone to make the other aware of his presence. 

“O-oh, yes! I’m still here!” Papyrus perked up a little falteringly and quickly summarized in his mind how to properly respond to Undyne’s confessions. He already knew exactly how he felt about them, he just had to vocally convey those feelings in his response back to her. He just hoped that his reassurances would be enough to brighten up her spirits again, he had to admit that hearing Undyne of all people acting ashamed and timorous was a discouraging occurrence that he dearly hoped wouldn’t reoccur in neither hers or his lifetime anytime soon.

“Undyne, I don’t blame you at all for all that has happened. I suspected that you probably didn’t know the severity of Sans’ situation with the police, not much more than I did anyway. I’ve been aware of Sans’ state of affairs for a long time, but I kept acting oblivious to it all because I knew that was what he wanted, to keep me unaware of the cruelty being inflicted upon him. And I knew that you guys probably felt the same way, that all those lies about Sans’ whereabouts or his current condition was only told because you wanted to protect me.”

The skeleton monster let out a heavy sigh of despondency as he pinched the ridge between his eye sockets with his free hand, his whole exterior caving in on itself over the kitchen table where he rested his elbows in weary cogitation.

“Of course I forgive you Undyne, you’re my friend! In all honesty, if I hadn’t been so stubborn on keeping up my childish and naïve act instead of being honest with my true feelings, this could’ve all been prevented…! If I can show mercy to Alphys for her mistakes, then I can surely show mercy to you too!” Papyrus concluded determinedly, pulling the arduous effort of delivering his sincere reassurances and forgiveness to his great friend.

Undyne seemed to have been very surprised by his genuine clemency, for all that could be heard from the other line was complete silence. Not even the regular quiet huff of air blowing through her mouth or gills could be heard over the phone.

Papyrus was just about to ask if she was still there when the stunned fish monster finally responded with befuddled hesitation;

“R-really…? You forgive me, just like that? I mean, aren’t you at least disappointed with me for not doing anything about it? It’s partly my fault that Sans got hurt in the first place, isn’t it?”

The lanky skeleton sighed once again, this time in compassionate empathy as he contemplated on how to explain his solicitous and forgiving nature to his puzzled friend.

“Undyne… You know I’m not the kind of person to hold grudges, not even towards people who’ve done really bad things to me or to those who I hold very dear. You already explained why you let all these things happen to him, didn’t you? You didn’t know how badly Sans was being treated at the police station. You didn’t realize what kind of abusive situation you were supporting Sans with, and I fully understand that. I too at first trusted Sans when he first told me those endless lies about how ‘fine’ he was; how capable he was of dealing with the cops’ cruelty even with the lingering consequences that followed his well-being. I know how much you regret the things you did, and that’s honestly all that matters, that you accept your mistakes and try to make amends for them.”

Papyrus paused, barely hearing Undyne’s breathing through the phone as she seemed to be listening intently to every word that was uttered to her. He was for once truly grateful for the red-haired monster’s eerie silence, knowing how much attention and freedom of speech she was giving the skeleton in his current situation where he needed it the most. It was comforting to know how much she really cared for him and his brother, even if she rarely showed any kind of affection towards the latter during their times together with the gang.

“…Wow…” Undyne huffed in astonishment, sounding exceptionally grateful and touched by the skeleton monster’s explanatory speech. “Heh, you sure know how to sound convincing of your reassurances huh…? I dunno what I’ve done to deserve such a cool pal like you, but I sure as heck am grateful for it!” The usually exultant woman continued, her depressing demeanor finally rising ever so slowly back to her usual jubilant self as she confessed her unwavering gratitude. 

“Seriously though… Thank you Papyrus, you really are the coolest dude around!” She concluded with what Papyrus was sure of was a determined toothy smile on the other side of the phone line, her husky voice tuning back to her usual rough and confident tone as she eagerly awaited Papyrus’ response.

As he heard his dear, dauntless friend’s spirits being lifted by the skeleton’s assuring words and the sincere compliment being given to him, his once dispirited and languid demeanor started to grow ever so slowly back to its original successor, as if a heavy weight of persistent depression was increasingly lifting from his lanky form and giving him back his stolen hope and determination, his very will to make things right, to make amends for all his mistakes and help the people he cared so much for in any way he could, no matter the obstacles or challenges he had to cross. 

“Of course you deserve my unfaltering compassion and forgiveness Undyne! You’re my friend! And true friends forgive and support each other, don’t they?” Papyrus answered, a bright smile growing on his face as he continued speaking without letting the fish monster answer his fleeting question unconsciously. “And I thank you very much for the flattering compliments too! Especially that the coolest fighter in the whole monster community has confirmed that I really am the coolest dude around!” Papyrus beamed, followed by his trademark “Nyeh heh heh’s” of joyous pride as he by reflex made a heroic pose on the stool he was sitting on for no one in particular to see. 

Undyne couldn’t help but snort in amusement at the concluding remark, knowing with certainty of Papyrus spontaneous posing on the other side of the phone line from previous experiences with the slightly goofy skeleton.

“Fuhuhu, that obvious fact doesn’t even need any confirmation dude! Everybody knows that we’re the coolest duo around! Or at least they should know that!” The fish monster laughed triumphantly, her loud and vigorous voice rumbling through the phone receiver as she gave of a signature laugh of her own.

After a moment of shared silly laughter between the eccentric duo, a comfortable silence settled through the phone line as Papyrus calmed down from his inane ardor and eased himself against the chair he was sitting on, feeling for once a little less tense from all the previous incidents that had occurred, not only from this morning, but from the skeleton brothers’ life in general. After hearing both Alphys’ and Undyne’s condolences and support in the matter of preventing Sans from further unnecessary harm, he felt like there truly was a solution to all of this, to all of their problems, a beacon of hope to pursue for a better future with the help of his dear friends and his brother. Even if having a serious conversation with Sans and trying to persuade him to tell the truth would be one heck of a doozy for the younger skeleton to overcome, it was one that he definitely couldn’t stoop down from if he truly wanted to make things better for the both of them, no matter how obstinate the small skeleton would become to the taller one’s persistent resolution.  
The tranquil silence was suddenly interrupted by a small, awkward cough emitting from the receiver, followed by Undyne’s lower and more serious tone of voice;

“Heh… You know, this wasn’t really the kind of conversation that I had expected when I first called ya’. Not that it’s a bad thing or anything, but uh, the reason that I called you on such an inopportune time to begin with was because I found a note from Alphys when I came home after work. Said that she was over at your place, but she didn’t write why and she barely ever visits your apartment in general so, I thought maybe something bad had happened, since she’s a doctor and all…”

“So that’s why she called…” Papyrus thought to himself as the fish monster went quiet over the phone again and waited for the tall skeleton’s response. 

“Oh, I understand. She’s in our bedroom with Sans right now, do you want to talk to her? I can go and get her for you!” Papyrus replied with his commonly cheerful mannerism over the phone.

“Sure. I mean, as long as I’m not interrupting her or anything.”

Papyrus stood up from his seat at the kitchen table, prepared to call Alphys over and let her have a speak with her plucky girlfriend.

“Don’t worry, she has already healed Sans’ wounds, so she should be free to talk! I’ll just call her over!” The skeleton monster responded, not giving Undyne enough time to answer before he lowered the phone and called for the lizard monster sojourning the bedroom.

“Alphys! Undyne’s on the phone!” Papyrus called loud and clear from where he stood. “She wants to talk with you!”

A brief moment of silence followed before he could hear the familiar rapping of small, scaly feet hurrying down the hallway and reaching the kitchen, the yellow and timid monster stopping at the door frame and her gaze jumping between the skeleton and the phone he was holding in a split-second of comprehension.

“Oh, U-Undyne’s on the phone?” Alphys asked meekly, without the expectation of getting an answer to the obvious question, and scurried over to the table to receive the phone handle.

“T-Thank you.” She said to Papyrus in appreciation before turning to the phone and addressing the fish monster on the other line. “H-Hello Undyne! I-Is everything alright?”

With his soul now filled with reassured contentment about the whole situation - and the moral reminder to not eavesdrop on other people’s conversations popping up in his head – the lanky skeleton swiftly left the kitchen and opted for checking in on his older brother, who apparently was still residing in the bedroom and not waking up.

Papyrus was both very concerned and worried about this fact, to say the least. Had Sans really been so exhausted that he needed to sleep for that long? What if he needed to sleep for days in order to recover from his severe fatigue and physical injuries? How would he be able to eat or drink during that time? What if his brother had entered some kind of coma that he couldn’t wake up from?! But Alphys said that he hadn’t fallen down, right?! She said that Sans would be alright, she wou_! 

 

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* 

 

Papyrus jolted, unintentionally letting out a startled “Nyeh!” at the unexpected sound of repeated knocks emitting from the front door down the hallway.

 

It took a moment for him to realize that someone was knocking on the door, waiting for the one occupying the apartment to answer them.

 

Who could that be at this hour?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which another cliffhanger is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, I'm really sorry for taking so long to update, and I'm really sorry that this chapter is so short in comparison to the previous chapters. Life has been really hard for me lately, and I've pretty much ended up losing all my motivation to write anything these days. Sadly, this means that I will most likely not continue this series, unless I actually get the motivation and energy to do so. I will probably not write anything new for this fandom anytime soon either.   
> I'm sorry for leaving you guys hanging so long.  
> Thank you all for the support this series got though. It really helped my self-esteem and motivation to write more fanfics.  
> <3 <3 <3

Papyrus reached for the front door down the hallway with slight hesitation in his movements, his usual resolution to answer another person’s calls wavering as numerous sorts of anticipated predictions started spinning around inside his head. 

Who was knocking at the door at this time? It couldn’t be Undyne, she was currently at the phone with Alphys, and even if she wasn’t, even with her impressive driving skills, there was no way she could’ve gotten to the skeletons’ apartment that quickly after ending her girlfriend’s conversation. 

Could it be Toriel? But what kind of errand would she have with the skeleton brothers, Let alone at their apartment? Whenever she had to deliver important information to them, she would always call them over to her house - instead of the reverse - for the sake of her own safety.

As the tall skeleton reached his destination, he grabbed the door handle, took a deep readying breath, and unlocked the entry to his humble home in firm resolution and anxious anticipation of who it was on the other side.

What he didn’t expect to see standing in the staircase hallway was the occasional flickering of orange flames dressed in a simple, black and white restaurant uniform.

“Grillby?” Papyrus asked the flame elemental in bewildered surprise, not expecting said monster to show up at his place out of the blue without calling him first.

Usually it was hard to decipher what Grillby’s facial expression looked like because of his usual lack of a face and his square-shaped eyeglasses covering the area were his eyes would be. That is, if he even had eyes? Papyrus wasn’t actually sure about that. He’s never seen the elemental without his glasses on after all.

But Papyrus had soon learned through the time they shared at his restaurant how to properly read the elemental’s mood and emotions. Whenever Grillby’s fire was weak to the point of fading off the physical matter that was his head (like a bonfire losing oxygen or fuel), it usually indicated that the monster was sad or worried about something.

Which was exactly the kind of mood hanging over the somber elemental in front of him right now.

“Hello… Papyrus…” Grillby replied quietly, being a monster of few words making his voice sound slightly husky and deep from disuse. “I’m sorry if I’m currently disrupting you… but you didn’t come to open the restaurant today like usual… and you hadn’t called me before-hand about the restaurant being closed for today… so I was worried that something might had happened…”

Papyrus’ body slowly deflated to a slumped exterior, as he was once again reminded of his restaurant and co-worker that got neglected without being informed of the boss’ absence for the day. He sighed heavily at his own absentmindedness as he face-palmed himself in self-proclaimed disappointment, before looking up and trying to keep eye-contact with the elemental, despite the monster’s presumable lack of eyes.

“Oh Grillby, I’m so sorry for not calling you about it, It’s just... Something happened this morning unexpectedly, so I had to take care of it first and I totally forgot to call you and tell you that you could take the day off…” The skeleton replied, briefly cogitating on how much information he should give away to his friend about Sans’ condition. While the two were good acquaintances and showed an obvious display of care and respect for each other, Papyrus didn’t want to have to involve more people than necessary in this situation, especially not without Sans’ consent beforehand. 

Grillby stared at the dreary skeleton before him, curious about what exactly had happened to prevent his boss from going to work without calling his employee, but also slightly dreadful to hear what he was sure to be bad news, if going by the monster’s forlorn expression and slumped exterior.

“… It’s okay Papyrus, I understand…” Grillby answered, coughing into his left fist when his voice cracked at the end of his sentence. He lowered his hand and swallowed before continuing. “… I’m sorry if I’m being intrusive, but… what happened exactly…? … Is there something I can do to help…?”

Papyrus’ cheerless eye sockets fell down to the floor, his face scrunching up in deep thought as he prepared himself for yet another informative revelation of Sans’ situation. His hands started fidgeting in dreary consternation over the anticipated reaction that was sure to come from the elemental at the distressing news.

He took an unnecessary deep breath.

“Well… It’s about Sans… he fainted in the bathroom this morning.”

Grillby’s slightly faded flame on his head gave a small crack of surprise at the answer, his courteous stature slightly tensing in both confusion and worry over his friend.

“He’s been having trouble sleeping lately, so that probably explains a bit of it… But… when I found him and looked him over to see if he was injured...”

Papyrus paused, his phalanges twiddling against each other in a nervous habit to ground himself, to keep focusing on what he had to say next.

“His arm was almost snapped in half, and… do you know what a sacrum is? It’s kind of hard to explain if you don’t know a skeleton’s anatomy, but… you know the part that others usually call their ‘private parts’?”

The elemental’s exterior seemed to tense even more at the last question, but he nodded his head nonetheless, seemingly diffident to what the skeleton was going to reveal next.

“… Sans is injured there… full of bruises and small cracks…” The skeleton finished, forcing himself to view the other’s reaction to the horrible discovery, to be ready to reassure him that Sans would be okay, as long as his family and friends where there to help and support him.

Once again, albeit stronger in sound and appearance, Grillby’s flames emitted a loud crackle that Papyrus guessed was the elemental’s equivalent of a shocked gasp. His gloved hands visibly clenched at his sides for a brief moment, posture still standing tall but stiff as the fire on his head faded even more.

“… How… how did it happen…? Who did it…?”

Papyrus’ gaze wavered, his eye sockets staring down at his fiddling hands once again. He stayed silent for a moment in deep contemplation, thinking over his denunciative answer. 

“We don’t have any actual proof of it, but… I’m pretty certain that it was the policemen… The ones who frequently brings Sans over to the police station for interrogation…”

The two monsters stood in the stairway hall in somber silence for a while, the worried skeleton waiting for the other to interrupt it, or maybe for he himself to say something more. What more could he say though? Should he comfort the other, reassure him that things would work out in the end, when he himself wasn’t sure of the outcome this predicament could bring? There were still so many details left for him to find out and confirm with Sans after all. Sans himself was already a troubling puzzle that not even Papyrus had the slightest idea of how to solve yet, especially with the fact that both brothers had over time developed a nasty habit of lying to each other about their well-being, instead of tackling the issues that haunted them with a healthy solution. 

The awkward silence was suddenly disturbed by the sound of a door being yanked open in a roughly manner, followed with a slam and heavy footsteps stomping their way up the flight of stairs from below.

Papyrus instantly recognized who those barging steps belonged to, his tense posture deflating slightly at the familiarity from all those rare times his dear friend would come over to visit the brothers’ apartment. This time however, her brash arrival was under entirely different circumstances and purposes, the skeleton reminded himself.

Marching her way up to the third floor, the fish monster came into view as she advanced towards the skeletons’ apartment, her determined facial expression turning into one of surprise at seeing the fire elemental outside Papyrus’ home.

“Oh, hey. Didn’t expect you to be here.” Undyne spoke up, placing her left hand on her hip as her yellow eye jumped from one monster to the other, seemingly curious as to what kind of business Grillby would have with her best pal at this time of the day. “What’s up?”

“Hello Undyne.” Papyrus replied, making a great effort of sounding cheerful and polite with his greeting, despite the perturbing circumstances that they all had gotten themselves tangled into one way or another. “Grillby was worried about why I hadn’t come by to open the restaurant today, so he came to visit.” He continued, turning back to address his co-worker. “Again, I’m really sorry that I didn’t call you about our current situation. A lot of things happened this morning and I lost track of time.”

Grillby nodded his head, the once fading flame slowly flaring up and glowing a little brighter in reciprocity. “…It’s alright Papyrus… there’s no need to apologize…” The elemental responded, putting both his hands behind his back in his usual gentlemanly manner. “… Thank you for telling me… about Sans… I wish him a good recovery…”

“You know about what happened to Sans then, I presume?” Undyne inquired, not expecting Grillby of all people to be involved in their extant predicament, especially since the elemental wasn’t a part of the gang and knew nothing of their super-secret business.

Grillby turned his head towards Undyne and nodded once more in response to her assertion.

“Would you like to meet him? Tough, I’m not really sure if he’s awake, or if he’s even in a good condition to have any visitors at the moment…” Papyrus asked the fire monster, his sentence trailing off in slight incertitude of whether it was a good idea to invite Grillby into the apartment or not.

“… I think it’s best that I leave him be for today…” The elemental answered, giving a small bow of farewell to the skeleton. “… He will need his rest… I would however appreciate it if you called me… when he’s feeling better…”

“Oh, of course!” Papyrus responded in earnest, reciprocating with a short and awkward bow of his own. “I’ll see you down at the restaurant tomorrow then? I’ll make sure to call you beforehand if anything happens again.”

Grillby ascertained his question with a final nod, turning to Undyne to bow a farewell to her as well before walking down the stairs and leaving the two monsters behind.

“So…” Undyne spoke up after the sound of a door opening and closing passed through the stairway. She turned to Papyrus, her arms intertwined in an authoritative position over her chest, but her one yellow eye displaying concern over her friend. “How’s the lil’ man doing? He’s still sleeping?”

The skeleton’s slightly slouched posture suddenly straightened up as realization dawned over him. 

“Oh right, I still haven’t looked if he’s awake yet! Come on in!” Papyrus exclaimed, hurriedly waving Undyne inside the apartment and closing the door behind them.

“He’s in our bedroom, this way!” He continued, hastily trotting down the hallway with the fish monster in tow and opening the bedroom door.


End file.
